Miner
"The Miner can burrow his way underground and appear anywhere in the Arena. It's not magic, it's a ''shovel."The Miner is unlocked from the Builder's Workshop (Arena 6).''' *He is a single-target, melee troop with both moderate hitpoints and damage. *A Miner card costs 3 Elixir to deploy. *The Miner is the only troop that can be deployed anywhere on the Arena. *The Miner appears to be a joyous digger whose face is dirt scathed probably due to his profile as a miner. He has a bright red nose, a shovel, and a black helmet with a candle on it. Strategy *Due to his ability to be placed anywhere, the Miner can be used for surprise attacks. *He deals only 40% damage to Crown Towers, so it's recommended not to use him on them alone. **However, he can act as a surprise tank. A Miner backed up by high DPS troops such as Goblins or Minions is a cheap way to deal immense damage. **A lone Miner, however, can dish out around 400 damage to the Crown Tower, so it is advised to address him at all times. *Use Miners to destroy enemy buildings when they are distracted. He is also a great counter to spawners. Note that his damage is only reduced to crown towers, and will deal normal damage to other buildings. **He can easily do damage to Elixir Collectors especially if the Crown Towers are distracted, preventing an Elixir advantage for the opponent, all whilst gaining an advantage. (3 Elixir to destroy a 6 Elixir building) *The player can also support their pushes by deploying the Miner next to their troops. *The Miner can take out squishy but powerful troops such as the Princess or Musketeer that are protected by a tank. **Against a Princess, placing him in the inside or center tile will not cause her to retarget to him, you need to deploy the Miner on the outside tile to cause her to retarget. *Being a single-target troop, the Miner is very weak against a small swarm of troops, such as Skeletons, which distract the Miner and prevent him from attacking nearby buildings. High damage troops like the Mini P.E.K.K.A. can also easily destroy the Miner. **Also, do not deploy the Miner in the same place, or else the opponent will easily predict the next attack and can easily counter it. ***A good trick is to deploy the Miner on the same tile 2 times, and after that, deploy him on the opposite tile, this will outsmart your opponent. *Pairing up the Miner and Hog Rider is a great choice for a push, however, it is vulnerable to air troops, such as Minions, and is also easily stopped by Barbarians. *A Goblin Barrel works well with the Miner. The Miner can soak up damage, while the Goblins deal damage, or vice versa. **However, it can be easily destroyed with air troops or spells. **Deploying a barrel on one arena tower and the Miner at the other will make your opponent choose what to counter. ***However, this can easily backfire, example; the opponent will Zap the Goblins and will place a Mini P.E.K.K.A or their own Goblins on the Miner side. This does not put the player at a disadvantage as the elixir trade is even. *An Ice Spirit can prove useful in an emergency when defending against the Miner. Deploy the Ice Spirit behind the tower so that it jumps into the Miner. This allows time for proper placement of troops to counter the Miner. *Mirroring the Miner can deal decent damage. Also, you may mirror a Miner at the opposite arena tower. *When placing a Miner, there are 4 sides to choose from, the left, right, back, and front **If you're placing a Miner on the right Arena Tower, deploying the Miner on the left side will allow the left Arena Tower to target him also (referred as the kill zone), vice versa. ***If you need to do some chip damage on both of the Arena Towers, you can send a Miner in the kill zone and then pressure the opposite lane. it is a high-risk, high-reward move. ****However, the miner can still be placed on the kill zone side without being targeted by the opposite arena tower; by placing the miner on the CORNER of the side, he will be barely out of range. *****With this knowledge, you can deploy your countering unit near the Miner to push him within range of the second tower. **On the front, your supporting units are much easier to counter when your opponent first counters your Miner. *If you want to attack the King's Tower without your Miner being within range of the Arena Tower, place the Miner on the left corner or 1 tile beside it of the King's Tower to avoid getting targeted by the right Arena Tower, and vice versa. *If you want to attack the Arena Tower without getting Targeted by the King's Tower, place him in the bottom right corner of the right Arena Tower so that he can target it without getting targeted by the King's Tower, and vice versa. *It is important to know where he should and not be deploy when going after a passive building on the back. **If it is deployed beside the King's Tower, generally the top left corner and the bottom left corner (vice versa) is avoided because he will activate the King's Tower after it is destroyed. ***With that being said, it is an amazing location since most players aren't familiar with this positioning. **You shouldn't deploy him directly on top and 1 tile beside on the left (this isn't vice versa) of the Arena Tower as he will target it instead. One interesting to know that he'll always attack the left corner of the Elixir Collector. **The safest place to deploy your defending troop is behind your Arena Tower. History *The Miner was added to the game on 3/5/16 with the May Update. *On 18/5/16, a Balance Update increased the Miner's hitpoints by 6% *On 4/7/16, a Balance Update decreased the Miner's deploy time to 0.7 seconds (from 1 second). **This change was unmentioned in any change notes and was later said to be unintentional by Supercell. *On 24/8/16, a Balance Update increased the Miner's deploy time back to 1.0 sec and decreased his hitpoints by 6%.